Dirty bombU.K. worried about dirty bombs
U.K. deputy prime minister Nick Clegg warned that materials to make a dirty bomb are readily available – so much so, that police forces cannot hope to contain such a threat; “That is a stateless threat, impossible for any national police force, no matter how advanced, to contain,” he said
Smoke from the explosion carries radioactive contaminants over a wide area // Source: indiana.edu
U.K. deputy prime minister, in a speech at The Hague yesterday, said materials to make a dirty bomb are readily available – so much so, that police forces cannot hope to contain such a threat.
A dirty bomb threat may well have been unimaginable a generation ago, he said, but no country can now afford to ignore the risk.
The Daily Mail reports that Clegg called for more cooperation among countries to address the threat of terrorism, crime, and economic collapse. He said:
And it is only by working together that we have any hope of tackling the new threats.
Take a terrorist-executed nuclear attack: unthinkable just a generation ago but now a possibility the international community cannot afford to ignore, thanks to an increased availability of nuclear material combined with more information about making the weapons on the internet, as well as thriving smuggling networks.
That is a stateless threat, impossible for any national police force, no matter how advanced, to contain.
But together we can agree and enforce the rules that will prevent such attacks. And I’m travelling to a major summit in Seoul later this year to that very end.”
Clegg’s warnings echo earlier warning from the U.K. intelligence services. Last year, leaked documents published by Wikileaks, showed leading nuclear regulators had privately warned that the world was facing a “nuclear 9/11,”
The U.K. government heard security briefings which suggested that Jihadi terrorist groups were close to producing “workable and efficient” biological and chemical weapons that could kill thousands if used in attacks on the West.
